When officers from the Crime Branch turned up at her Kalachowkie residence on Wednesday night to question her brother on his possible role in a bomb blast plot, a 31-year-old accountant was initially flummoxed. Soon, however, it became evident that this was just the latest instance of unrelenting harassment she had been forced to suffer at the hands of a man she had met – and rejected – on a matrimonial website last year

The bomb was loaded with ballbearings, nails and glass shards, a typical terrorist hack to maximise fatalities.

The case has since been transferred to the Crime Branch and the Anti-Terrorism Squad has started its own parallel investigation.

The shanty in which the bomb was assembled; forensic officials collect samples from the site of the blast at Antop Hill

One of the two arrested has been identified as Azrul Shaikh, 22, while the identity of the other has been withheld by the police because he is a minor. Preliminary investigations have revealed that both worked for BEST and MTNL as contract labourers, mainly involved in digging trenches for electric wires.

The two — both natives of West Bengal — had moved in with Shaikh’s aunt at Noora Bazaar on Garib Nawaz Road in Antop Hill last week.

Though the police on Monday refused to say whether they suspected a terrorism angle, a team of Crime Branch will leave for West Bengal on Tuesday for further investigations.

This is the first arrest under the Act, according to which an accused can face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment till death and his properties can be confiscated.

The remnants of the bomb collected from the site have been sent for forensic tests. The investigating team refused to speculate on the explosives used by Shaikh. “We will wait for the FSL report,” said an officer.

A neighbor who was first to reach the spot said Shaikh’s hands and legs were bleeding profusely. “We rushed him to a hospital and parallely informed the cops too,” he said.

The cops have also got permission to question the minor boy in this case, considering the seriousness of the case.

“We have registered an offence and the case has been transferred to the Crime Branch,” said DCP N Ambika of zone IV.